Tuesday, February 25, 2014

This Weekend

Hey everyone!

So this weekend I was a busy bee!
I felt like I was on the move every single day.
That's probably because I was.
I'm going to split this by each day so bear with me.

Friday:
Turns out none of my American friends have class on Fridays.
Yipee for us!
This meant that we wanted to get out and explore.
The first place we went was Abbey Road.
If you do not know what this is or the significance of it, well I can't even imagine how that's possible.
It was legendary.
I was literally standing on an enormous piece of British iconic history.
It was amazing.
I have no doubt that in 1969 the Beatles had no clue what they would do with that picture.
Unfortunately Abbey Road is still a working road.
People drive it everyday.
And let me just say they do not like stopping!
People were honking and were really impatient.
I mean I could see where they were coming from because it would be annoying to have to wait for people to take pictures on the crosswalk.
Then again you KNOW the meaning of that place and that people will want the iconic picture.
Drive a different route if it bothers you that much.
I guess that's just my opinion because I am that person who was in awe standing there.

After Abbey Road we went to Covent Gardens.
It's a really cool shopping are and has markets and things like that.
PLUS they have a FIVE GUYS!
That was probably one of my greatest discoveries in London.
We all know how I love my Five Guys.
We were in a ice cream shop that night and the girl behind the counter overheard us talking about it.
She had the nerve to say that she didn't really care for it.
I was ready to fight with that statement.
You can't not like Five Guys.
Especially when you don't have delicious burger joints like it.
After that we were all exhausted and headed home for the night.
Oh, I also found another Nike.
This one is a regular store which means my bank account will hate me soon.

Saturday:
Today we had our trip around London.
It was a very Royal day on our tour.
Our first stop was Westminster Abbey.
Unfortunately you're not allowed to take pictures because it is still a church.
I understood but was a little sad.
I saw the graves of people like Shakespeare, the Unknown Soldier, and so many more.
It was incredibly creepy.
I was walking on dead people the entire time and I am not a fan.
Back home it's disrespectful to walk on someone's grave.
There you would have to fly to avoid it.
The coolest thing about this church is that it is wear the coronations of Kings and Queens take place.
Also, the Royal Wedding!
I was fangirling because I got to walk the exact path Kate did when she got married.
Just call me a princess now!

After the Abbey it was to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.
This was so cool.
I don't want offend the queen, but her guards look like the guards off of the Wizard of Oz.
Sorry to speak the truth.
I was waiting to hear the chants like in the movie.
Sadly they never came...
It was so crowded for the guard changing and the queen wasn't even home!
There were hundreds of people there to watch.
I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but you can't actually be face to face with the guards.
So in movies how you see them standing perfectly still while people do anything to make them move.
It's not possible.
It's all a lie.
I'm sorry...

After the Palace it was to Tower of London.
Basically this is a huge fortress where a lot of people have died.
It was kind of creepy.
I would definitely not want to be there at night.
I got to see where Anne Boelyn was beheaded so I guess that's a win...
After the tour we had a long walk home.
I was exhausted.
We finished the night by playing cards in our kitchen and just hanging out.
Friends at home I have a couple new card games for our infamous card nights!
I will prevail at these games!

Sunday:
Today was girls day.
My flatmates and I joined up with two other KEI girls and we went to the markets.
In East London there are tons of markets!
We visited 3 huge ones.
Our final destination was Brick Lane which is considered the Little India of London.
There was so much to see.
Food, vintage, and more food.
I have decided that what people here consider vintage is stuff that we would never think of wearing.
Mom should of kept all those old Levi jeans...
I tried some amazing food and enjoyed the great company.
I plan on making this a regular Sunday thing with the hopes that I don't go broke or gain tons of weight from all the delicious food.

This was my weekend in a nutshell.
I saw and did so much that I am still exhausted just thinking about it.
I can't complaint though because that is exactly why I chose London for study abroad.
There is always something to do and you can never say you are bored.
There are a few times when I want to be bored.
I love this city and I love exploring the different parts.

Until next time,
xoxoxo

Monday, February 17, 2014

Sláinte

Wow, I cannot believe the weekend I just had. 
It was absolutely incredible!
Ireland is a beautiful country full of history and culture. 
I fell in love the first day. 
First off, those accents. 
Nothing, I mean nothing beats an Irish accent. 
When they would speak I would just stare. 
Now let's get down to talking about the trip. 

We arrived on Thursday night to our hostel.
Now to the grownups freaking out because I stayed in a hostel, it was okay.
We were in a hostel that was ranked 4.5/5. 
This is basically the best you can get. 
It was super clean and had an amazing staff. 
Plus they served probably the best cheeseburger I have ever had. 
Seriously I'm still thinking about it. 
So we had checked in and then went to bed.

Friday morning was a 3 hour walking tour of London. 
It turns out it rains in Ireland, a lot. 
It was sprinkling when we left the hostel and just got worse. 
It was windy, freezing, and raining. 
You couldn't even use an umbrella because of the rain. 
When we met up with our tour guide she informed us that it was the worst storm they have had in 16 years. 
Brilliant!
3 hours of walking in the worst storm in Dublin. 
COOL!
I'm sad to say because of the weather I really didn't get a lot of pictures from the day.
Honestly I didn't even see it myself because I had my head down to shield it from the rain. 
After we were all thoroughly soaked and freezing we stopped for lunch in a pub called O'Neills. 
This place was incredible. 
It's an old traditional pub and it was beautiful inside, not to mention WARM!
I ordered a traditional Irish stew.
Some of you know I'm not the biggest fan of stew. 
It's just the texture of cooked veggies sicks me out. 
Let me go on record and say this was the best stew I have ever had!
It was incredible. 
The meat was so tender that it just fell off. 
I could probably eat it for the rest of my life and be content. 
Tell me that doesn't look amazing and mouthwatering. 
After lunch we headed to our tour of the Guinness factory. 
This was really cool and our guide's accent was incredible of course. 
We got to see how Guinness is made and learned why it's "black" beer. 
Fun fact: It's not really black, it's red. 
Another fact: I tasted it and hated it. Go figure. 
At the end of the tour our guide taught us some Gaelic, which brings me to the title of this post. 
Sláinte means 'cheers' in Gaelic. It is pronounced slawncha. 
It is also my new favorite word. 
Friends at home be prepared for me to say it ALL the time. 
After the Guinness tour it was off to the hostel to get ready for the pub crawl that night. 

This pub crawl consisted of 5 pubs and there were probably 40 of us.
There was our huge group of American students and then these rando people. 
A huge group of German guys joined us at the first bar. 
They were an interesting bunch to meet. 
I love the pubs over here. 
They all have an awesome atmosphere and live bands. 
The first live band we saw was incredible.
Their name was Mick Heslin and I fell in love.
I'm sure you all saw my pictures of them on Facebook. 
They were also wicked talented. 
The next bar was a place called the Porter House that brews their own beer. 
They had this kind called Fruilini and it's a Strawberry beer.
It was so yummy. 
Then the last bar was actually O'Neills where we had ate lunch. 
The atmosphere was completely different. 
It was packed full and they also had a live band. 
This band was somewhat older and playing more traditional stuff. 
We got to learn an Irish clapping song that we all loved. 
We couldn't actually understand a word being said though. 
Then it was off to bed because we had an early start the next morning. 

Today was the day for the Cliffs of Moher and Galway. 
We were praying for good weather and had been told we should get some. 
When we left the hostel it was raining and gloomy. 
Luckily the Cliffs of Moher are 2 hours outside of Dublin. 
I slept the entire way so it wasn't bad except I'm pretty sure our bus driver loves his break pedal way too much. 
When we arrived it was sunny and gorgeous. 
I was thanking God for such beautiful weather. 
The Cliffs of Moher were breathtaking.
I can't even put in words how perfect it was. 
I could seriously go there everyday and never get sick of it. 
Fun fact: The Cliffs are in Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince.
When Harry and Dumbledore are standing outside the cave where the horcrux is and the water is splashing all around them. 
Just another reason I love them. 
Honestly, I am so thankful that I got to see them and have such beautiful weather to do it in. 
I did so some rule breaking and jump the fence to take a picture with the cliffs. 
I was afraid of falling the entire time. 
You can go to my Facebook album for the blog and see all my pictures. 
After the Cliffs it was another 2 hour drive to Galway. 
Galway is a cultural center and a lot of residents still speak Gaelic. 
I must say I wasn't too impressed with Galway.
We were in the touristy shopping streets and didn't really get to see the actual city. 
I was a little disappointed but I had an amazing pub lunch at a place called The King's Head. 
After we left Galway we came back to Dublin and just explored the night and ended up at pubs listening to music the entire night. 
This is my new favorite thing about going out.
Especially when they play American songs!

Sunday was free time. 
We were done with our tour group and could go on our own. 
I had a traditional Irish breakfast without the baked beans.
I don't get why these people think baked beans are a breakfast food but I can't do it. 
After that we went to find St. Patrick's Cathedral. 
We found it and it was gorgeous!
The park behind it was green and so peaceful.
We tried to catch a stray dog but it ran away from us. 
So I want to introduce you all to my friends over here. 
These are my American friends, excluding Sean(Sleepy Hollow) who is taking the picture. 
From left to right: Me, Deanna(Brooklyn), Erika(Connecticut), Taylor(Kentucky), Natasha(Chicago), and Tori(Long Island). 
Taylor, Natasha, and Tori are my flatmates and the other three live across the hall. 
I am so happy to have these people over here. 
We do pretty much everything together. 
I just wanted you all to see my friends and know who they were since I will be talking about them a lot. 

All in all I had an amazing weekend and can't wait to go back to Ireland. 
It was beautiful and I could definitely live there. 
Plus they have cows!
COWS people!
That right there already pushes them for a win!
I'm so thankful that I got to experience everything on this trip and had an amazing time.
Make sure to check out the Facebook album for my blog to see more pictures. 

Until next time, 
xoxoxo



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Stonehenge & Bath

As most of you know through Facebook, Sunday I had another adventure.
We went to Stonehenge and Bath and it was absolutely incredible.
We all like to joke that we saw the world's oldest and biggest bathtub, and a bunch of famous rocks.
In reality, I was in awe of the history before me in both places.

We started our day by getting on a coach bus and heading to Bath.
We had to pick up some random study abroad kids along the way that had signed up for the tour.
It was early in the morning and about a 2 hour drive so I put the headphones in.
It was so cool to go from the city, to the suburbs, and then to the countryside.
England is a beautiful country.
I will say though that their fields and countryside have nothing on home.

We finally arrived in Bath and it was like stepping back in time.
The architecture and buildings were absolutely gorgeous.
For those of you who don't know, Bath is home to the Roman baths.
It was the place to vaca to back in Georgian times.
Since it was built for Romans it looks a lot like streets in Italy.
I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it all is.

We started our tour of the Roman baths and honestly it was amazing.
Now the real Roman built baths are about 30 feet under the present one but it was still really awesome to see the baths that have been here for so long.
We were allowed to walk around on our own and see whatever we wanted.
The museum gives you a handheld walkie that gives you stories the entire way through the tour.
I stopped using mine because I was already on information overload.
I got tons of pictures and at the end I even got to drink the healing hot spring water.
It was hot and tasted like blood.
Absolutely disgusting!

After we left the museum we went and found some lunch.
For dessert we went to a place called Ben's Cookies.
Oh. My. Goodness.
This place is amazing.
If you are ever in the UK find one and revel in the magnificence that is this place.
You will thank me.
Then it was onto Stonehenge.
Another fun fact, when I was in Bath I was only 45 minutes away from Wales!
How incredible is that?!
A 3 hour trip and I can be in another country!
It's absolutely amazing!

So we arrived at Stonehenge about 45 minutes later.
I don't want to break the illusion for everyone, but Stonehenge is in the middle of a field.
Like smack dab in the middle.
There are sheep surrounding it.
We thought about stealing a sheep as a souvenir, but we didn't have a seat for it on the coach. (sigh)
You have to take a land train to reach Stonehenge and it only takes about 3 minutes.
When we pulled up I kind of just stood there.
I couldn't believe that I, a small town country girl, was  seeing a wonder of the world.
It's magnificent.
Also, it was much bigger than I expected.
I have no idea why I had this notion in my head that Stonehenge rocks were somewhat smaller.
They're massive!
Unfortunately you can't get really close to the rocks because they have fallen over.
I guess it's nice they care about our safety but I really just wanted to touch one.
Maybe steal a little piece...
I did luck out however.
We all recognize the normal Stonehenge arrangement.
What many don't know is outside of that circle there is a lone boulder.
I'm not sure how it got out of the formation, many say that the formation changes over the years.
I wasn't too upset because this one I could touch, with a little rule breaking.
So everyone will be thrilled to know I took a rock from Stonehenge and did NOT get arrested.
I felt so cool.
I was terrified one of the tourists would rat me out.
They didn't.
It took about 30 minutes to walk the whole thing.
Plus you have to to get the standard selfie pictures with Stonehenge.
I will admit I was super proud of mine.
After we did the walk I was tired and ready to go home.
Luckily I had a Ben's Cookie waiting on the bus for me.
It's the little things in life that make me happy.

On our way home I tried to nap a little.
I just ended up banging my head on the window.
When we finally arrived at home I went to a local pub for dinner.
We were really wanting a Sunday Roast which is a huge thing over here.
No such luck for us.
I ended ordering a burger and it was delicious.
They were a little skimpy with the chips though.
So I now have a place to get a good burger here.

I must say that I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to study abroad.
I am even more thankful for the opportunities I get within it.
The places and things I see are amazing and beautiful.
I am realizing that I will see things that most people will never have the chance to.
It's very humbling and makes me very happy I'm getting those chances.

Stay alert because this month there are some exciting things coming!
Tomorrow I do the London Eye.
It's a huge Ferris Wheel type contraption that gives you a view of London.
I'm very nervous because of my fear of heights.
Then at the end of the month I am off to Germany.
I am visiting Kristin and I am SO EXCITED!
I have really missed her and can't wait to see her in her home.

Here are some pictures from Bath and Stonehenge.





Until next time, 
xoxo